"I dare you to look inside yourself to find out who you really are."
From the Desk of Talia Becker, LCSW. Therapist, Eating Disorders Program, Robert Wood Johnson Barnabas Health Somerset.
Dare: I dare you to look inside yourself to find out who you really are.
Truth: The patients here on the Eating Disorders Unit are challenged to find out who they are without their eating disorders every day. They try to identify themselves in ways that society may not deem the norm and learn to embrace their uniqueness and quirks.
Dare: I dare you to conquer your biggest fear right now. I dare you to jump off an airplane, public speak, and or get stuck in an elevator for 3 hours.
Truth: The patients here on the EDU face their fears every single day. For the patients here on the EDU, eating their meals is equivalent to any real life fear you may be having on any given day. Do they run away from their fears? Do they choose to not jump off the plane? Do they have security come to get them out of their stuck elevator? No, they do not. They take deep breaths, they cry, they laugh, they get upset, they feel proud, but they NEVER run away.
Dare: I dare you to talk about your biggest challenges, anxieties, and problems and share them not only with your therapist, but with your family who loves you the most and other peers who you never met before.
Truth: The patients here on the EDU identify, explore, and process all different issues and problems they are facing with their therapists, families, and peers on an ongoing basis, day after day, while on the EDU. They are constantly being given therapeutic assignments to help them work on their problems. Do they get tired? Yes. Do they give up? Never.
Dare: I dare you to be assertive with your friends, family and or boss.
Truth: The patients here on the EDU not only learn to assert themselves to their eating disorders, friends and families, but actually go about doing it while they are here on the unit via family sessions, group therapy and individual session with their primary therapists.
Dare: I dare you to educate yourself about eating disorders.
Truth: Eating disorders are not just a “fad” or a “phase.” They are a REAL illness affecting millions of people all over the world. Eating disorders are not an attempt to “just be thin.” Eating disorders are associated with underlying physical and emotional issues related to anxiety, depression, loss of control, low self-worth and the need to be perfect. Recovery from an eating disorder does not only mean that the patient needs to eat, but also that the patient must address his/her emotional problems that are leading them to not eat.
Dare: I dare you to look at the truth.
Truth: Will you?